The Beautiful Feet Diaries – How to Get Rid of Corns and Calluses

What is worse than trying to squeeze your feet into a beautiful pair of shoes, only to come into problems with your corns and calluses? These are generally caused by friction, usually from wearing shoes that are too small, and although they may be bearable when it’s winter time, when you are able to hide them in big boots and comfy flats, they can look incredibly unsightly during the spring and summer months, when all you want to do is air your feet in a beautiful pair of strappy sandals!

Starting with corns, these generally occur on the very ends of your feet, or sometimes in between your toes, which as you can imagine, can cause rather a lot of discomfort, especially if you are trying to squeeze them into pretty shoes. Smaller in size than a callus, they have a center that often grows down into the skin, usually in a cone-type shape, and have a tendency of being rather painful, simply because they usually grow over the bone.

The callus is usually bigger than a corn, and is a hard layer of skin that grows when friction occurs, as a natural way of your body trying to defend itself. You will often find that the callus is painless in reality, but will look rather ugly, and generally appear in areas of the most friction, such as the balls of your feet, the very ends of your toes, and even on your heels.
[wp_ad_camp_1]
There are methods that you can use to prevent corns and calluses from happening, of course, and the most important of these is to make sure that you have your feet professional measured and only ever wear shoes that are the right fit for your feet. If you play a lot of sports, or love to go to the gym, make sure that you buy footwear that is cushioned enough on the areas that you need it the most, and this could mean having a couple of different pairs of sports shoes for the different things that you are doing. Try not to wear feet that rub as well, and although this can be difficult for us ladies – the more room you have in the toe-section of your shoe, the less of a chance you will have of getting these unsightly foot problems later on in life.

If you have repeated calluses and corns, it is well worth taking a trip to the podiatrist to have the problem resolved. You may be prescribed “special shoes” that are basically designed to take the pressure and friction away from the areas that you are suffering from, redistributing the weight of your body on other areas of the foot, and ensuring that you are cushioned enough for every walking step.

You can do things at home to try and get rid of these things as well. There are corn and callus remover kits that you can buy from local drug stores, and even something as a bit of tender loving care could make the difference, especially with calluses. For example, taking the time to use a pumice stone and some moisturizer on the callused areas of your feet could make the world of difference, at least in the short term so that you can wear pretty shoes to special events. It is best to do this after you have had a bath or a shower as the feet and skin will usually be softer at this point, and much easier to remove.

One tip that it is wise to remember is that you should never use any kind of sharp instrument to cut or hack away at your corns and calluses. This is just the perfect set up for infection; a problem that will be even more difficult to resolve than the original corns and calluses themselves.
[wp_ad_camp_1]
It has been said that microdermabrasion can help with hard skin, such as that formed with calluses and corns, and although this is something that is more popularly used on the face, it can help to peel away large chunks of skin, and when paired with something like a chemical peel, (yet another normal face treatment) you can find that yellowing, hard and flaky skin is removed rather quickly and effectively.

In short, taking care of your feet is important, especially during the younger stages of your life. You may find that those beautiful shoes look better when they are a smaller size but you are only going to end up paying for it later on, and you will kick yourself for not taking more care!